Pro-Tips

Stretching

Stretching is one of the most forgotten tools in the shed. Unlike, weight barring exercises, you rarely see people stretching correctly, let alone spending an hour on it. Keeping the muscle flexible and full of blood will only better your performance. Seldom stretches or no stretches at all can restrict blood flow to muscles causing, lower performance levels, an increase in injury, and in some cases limiting muscle growth.

Meet: Ryan Muetzel

My name is Ryan Muetzel, and I have spent my entire life participating and working in the fields of athletics, personal training, fitness, health, nutrition and dietary supplementation. My athletic career began back in high school where I participated on several nationally ranked football, basketball and track and field teams for sports powerhouse St. Ignatius in Cleveland, OH. While doing this, I was also able to accumulate enough Advanced Placement (AP) credits to begin college at Emory University in Atlanta, GA with junior class status.

For over ten years I have been training individuals as a personal trainer by instructing them on proper form and technique in a variety of strength training and cardiovascular exercises. I also create individualized training and nutrition programs for my clients, as well as recommending nutritional supplements to them to correct any dietary deficiencies. I have also adopted some of the original Yoga teachings into training methodologies for athletes in a wide variety of sports in order to help them improve their performance and avoid injury.

Lower Body Stretches

3 Simple Tips for Stretching:

Have you warmed-up the muscle you are stretching?

Applying a foam roller to tender areas or areas of stretching can provide flexibility performance.

When stretching are you feeling a sharp pain?

Try reducing the tension of the stretch. You want to feel the muscle stretching comfortably. To much pressure can result in muscle damage or create injury. Remember, sharp pains are bad, do not hold the stretch if this is happening.

Also remember to breathe. Deep breaths in and out will help provide oxygen to the muscle causing the muscle to loosen.

How long are you holding the stretch?

Depending on the type of stretching, 10-30 seconds holds usually are fine.

Releasing Tight Muscles

Myofascial Release or Muscle Tension release

Working out is great, some may even say it is the best addiction known to man. But working out is only half the battle. The other half lies is rehabilitation.

See, when the muscle is worked over and over again (3-6 days per week), a significant stress is placed on the muscle. This stress can cause dysfunction, which in turn causes pain.Usually, the pain is in one general area but if left untreated the pain can radiate to other parts of the body.

The pain is related to myofascial trigger points. When the muscle is altered or the myofascial alignment is changed, pain occurs. In order to suppress the pain and create normality back to the muscle, myofascial release techniques are helpful.

Sometimes simple stretching can manage myofascial restriction, along with a massage, thermotherapy or electrotherapy.

When the myofascial restriction is significant, foam rolling, massage ball, roller sticks, and other types of devices are very popular.
Taking care of your body internally and externally helps create normal functions for the muscles. This allows for enhanced performance and an amazing workout.

Remember, to always stretch and foam roll frequently. Every 3 months schedule a full body massage. Following these steps will help your overall fitness goals.

Diet is the most important tool in the shed, it is also one of the hardest to craft.

Many factors influence a diet and there is no one universal diet that fits all. However, evaluations from a nutritionist or a certified personal trainer can help mold and tailor a diet to a specific individual.

To understand your body you first must understand your Bio-Chemistry, (We will talk about this topic in a later forum). But for now, let’ talk about food.

To understand what foods are right for you, you first must understand, “What are Foods?”

Foods are known to our body as calories. Calories are a source of energy used (burned) by our body to help with everyday functions. Some of us do not consume enough calories as others may consume too many. Consuming more calories than needed can be bad and may result in retaining undesired fat . Consuming too little calories is also bad due to the muscle cannibalizing, thus your body hold fat.

To understand how many calories your body needs, you may need to take a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), test. This test will examine how much calories your body needs in a 24 hour time period. Keep in mind, the BMR test reads numbers from your current body state. So depending on your exercise routine your BMR can be higher or lower than your natural organic state (how are you without working out). If you would like to schedule a meeting with one of our trainers to receive your BMR, visit, www.freeyourfitness24.com/contact-us